Chapters (64)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Pronunciation Guide
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Part Two
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Part Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Part Four
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Epilogue
- Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
- The Night and Its Moon Playlist
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
The northerners tried to keep their conversation to a minimum for the first while, since every time they opened their mouths, Malik and Ash seemed to be performing a two-man act in displays of winces, disgust, and the stoic bravery to conceal their obvious discomfort. Amaris knew that, in theory, her friends were being very courageous. She understood that they must be seeing and hearing something from which nightmares were made. Even knowing that to be the truth, the boys had to be witnessing four demons just…sitting there. Surely, Ash and Malik saw ag’imni relaxing around a campfire, hissing and snarling in the language of the damned with the charming ease of scary monsters at a tea party. The ridiculousness of picturing an ag’imni warming itself by firelight while it chatted politely with its companions was enough to fill her belly with smiles.
On the other side, it was clear the fae had not been this close to southerners in decades. While Ash and Malik flexed and tensed, the men of Raascot shifted uncomfortably, self-conscious at their effect on the others. Amaris, on the other hand, wished she could bottle the night and take sips of it for years to come.
“Stop laughing,” Malik scolded with muttering disapproval.
“You’d laugh too if you could see what I see!”
While she knew Gadriel and Zaccai, the other two were introduced as Silvanus and Uriah. She did her best to serve as interpreter and aquatint the two parties. Ash and Malik were easy enough for the dark fae to recognize, but Ash mumbled something about the four creatures’ needing to stay in their assigned seats or their names wouldn’t matter, as all ag’imni looked exactly alike. He did seem to be making an attempt at acceptance. When enough time had passed with no one being maimed, eaten, or hunted, the reevers appeared genuinely convinced that everything Amaris had said was the truth. They knew enough from their bestiaries to know that monsters did not sit for civil conversation. The beasts before them were simply enchanted fae, little more than men under a perception curse. While that didn’t make it any easier on the eyes or ears, they would find a way to deal with the reality.
Malik, in a triumph of bravery, stretched his arm over the fire barrier between them and offered some of his salted meat to the slick, gray creature nearest him. Zaccai looked startled by the gesture but stood to receive the cured, meaty olive branch. The transaction was the catalyst they needed, as the men breathed out a collective sigh of relief, relaxing their tension slightly.
“Do you have a plan to get in to see the queen?” Gadriel asked of the group. It was the first time anyone from either side attempted to speak to the opposite party.
Amaris took it upon herself to translate to the reevers, answering, “I planned to wing it. No pun intended.”